Following The Leaders Hooker Barnes Homes Making Presence Known In Busy Orlando Market

November 18, 1985|By Susan G. Strother of The Sentinel Staff

Buddy Trotter fiddled with a pen, shuffled paper on his desk and, kicking back in his cluttered Winter Park office, resigned himself to the fate of a home-building executive.

''Hey,'' he said, teasing,''I guess I do it all.''

But for Trotter, vice president of Hooker Barnes Homes' newest U.S. division, the immodest admission isn't far from the truth. At the very least, he supervises it all -- land buying, home designing and advertising -- for the Australian builder that recently set its sights on Central Florida.

To improve its presence here, the company in June established an Orlando division and relocated Trotter from its U.S. headquarters in Atlanta. Formerly, Orlando-area development was handled from Tampa, where the company opened its first Florida office in 1979.

''Sales in Orlando were strong enough here to create a division,'' Trotter said. The company has been particularly pleased with its Hunter's Trace subdivision, where 66 homes were built and closed since spring, accounting for $5 million in sales in less than seven months.

Throughout the Southeast and Southwest, Hooker has followed, though never led, other chain builders into high-growth areas. It is on a similar path in Orlando, generally locating its subdivisions near competitors' developments.

''We feel it's preferrable to be in a location with other builders,'' Trotter said. ''Consumers will see (the competition's) homes, but they also will see ours and make comparisons on the spot. We won't sell all the houses to all the people, but we get our share.''

Operating in six areas in Florida, Georgia, Texas and Arizona, Hooker targets its homes to 28- to 42-year-olds -- or people with annual incomes of $35,000 to $65,000.

Hooker's conventional homes range from $55,000 to just less than $100,000. Currently, there are three active subdivisions in Orlando -- Hunter's Trace, Sweetaire of Wekiva and an unnamed development in Deltona -- which together eventually will account for 160 homes.

Late last week, Trotter completed the purchase of another 72 homesites for Hooker's Windsong subdivision in Orlando, where construction will begin at the end of this month. If another land purchase goes as planned, construction will begin in February on the Alafaya Woods subdivision, where Hooker plans to build 153 homes.

In making its product attractive to Orlando consumers, Trotter said the company buys lots that range in price from $15,000 to $22,000. Anything more expensive would force Hooker to price its homes beyond the affordability of its first- and second-time buyers.

''We have to make our product line attractive to the consumer,'' Trotter said. ''Anything priced higher (than $22,000) would be suited for a more expensive home.''

According to Harry Collison, president of the Real Estate Consortium, a national appraisal firm in Orlando, there are at least 10 regional or national builders operating in Orlando, most of which came to the area in the past 10 years.

Hooker expects to build 200 homes in Orlando this year, and possibly double the figure by 1986. By comparison, however, the company is smaller than other multimarket builders in the area. The local division of U.S. Homes, for instance, will build 400 homes by the end of this year.

Nationally, the 1,500 homes Hooker built in 1984 didn't rank it on the list of the top 10 for-sale builders compiled by Professional Builder, a Chicago-based industry magazine. U.S. Homes headed that list, completing 12,811 units last year.

''Our strategy is not to be the biggest builder in any market,'' said Hooker president Laurie Frost from his Atlanta office. ''It's just too dangerous to be the biggest. Real estate is very cyclical and if a market turns on you, you can get caught. Generally, leaders are the hardest to fall.''

Hooker prefers to build a comparatively fewer number of homes in each market, Frost said. In Orlando, the company's subdivisions generally range from 70 to 100 units.

''We've been successful with that number,'' Trotter explained, adding that six different floor plans exist in the average subdivision. ''We like to build in smaller subdivisions or in a small portion of a very large subdivision. It just allows us to keep the company more liquid.''

The company is one of three international builders Professional Builder reports active in the U.S. market, and it is considering expansion in California and other growth areas.

On a less positive note, Hooker now is preparing a response to a complaint the Federal Trade Commission filed against it last month. In the course of an investigation into real estate advertising, the FTC accused the company of not fully disclosing credit terms in advertisements it placed for home financing in several states, including Florida.

It was the first such complaint filed by the FTC and, depending on the outcome, Hooker could be forced to pay a fine.